Dr. Fernando Morales
}} Dr. Fernando Morales is a Deputy Medical Examiner for the Los Angeles County Department of the Coroner on The Closer and Major Crimes. Morales consults with the Major Crimes Division on cases of suspicious or unknown death, and is responsible for determining whether an individual died by natural causes, or whether the death was accidental, a suicide or a homicide. He is also responsible for determining cause of death. Character Information According to his interview on Identity, he is an immigrant from Uruguay; his father visited in . Morales is one of five brothers and the only one who didn't become a police officer like their father. In , Morales is called in to help look through the patient records of Doctor Christopher Brady. Morales realizes that Rita Lee, a cancer patient, wasn't receiving her chemotherapy and then that none of Doctor Brady's victims were, changing the number of victims to be into the hundreds. Morales helps the squad catch Wally Sanders by posing as a children's oncologist treating leukemia patients he is delivering his discount drugs to and then testing the drugs to determine that they are really saline solution disguised as chemotherapy. In and , along with performing autopsies, Morales finds vital clues that help to solve the respective cases. In the latter, Morales determines that one of the murdered children is not actually the child of the missing father after looking at the information posted on the murder board. In the former, Morales digs deeper into the victim's medical history and discovers a 911 call that allows the detectives to identify the killers, prove their means of murder and solve the case. He is occasionally seen at social occasions related to one of the squad or a victim. In one such case, Morales attends Alice Herrera's memorial service in along with everyone else who was deeply affected by her death and the fact that they couldn't identify her. He is also at Provenza's wedding in which is a small intimate affair with only Provenza and Patrice's close friends in attendance. Sitting with Julio Sanchez and Michael Tao, Morales goes so far as to joke that all of the minorities are seated together. In , he is present in the courtroom when Dwight Darnell opens fire. After Assistant Chief Russell Taylor is shot, Morales rushes to his side in an attempt to save his life. He ultimately fails and Taylor dies despite his efforts. As much affected by the tragedy as the squad, he still aids them in protecting Doctor Joe Bowman by officially declaring him dead to prevent further attempts on the man's life. In , he is visited by his father, a retired detective from Uruguay, Eduardo Morales. During phone calls to his family, he has greatly over-exaggerated his involvement in the investigations conducted by the Major Crimes Division, letting his father believe he is a part of the division and that he has a somewhat of a leadership role in the investigations. At first, it was noted that his father spoke and understood very little English and because of this, Morales had to translate a lot of conversations to him. Buzz, being fluent in Spanish, also spoke to him exclusively in his own language. Eduardo later spoke with Capt. Raydor and Lt. Provenza and revealed that he speaks English more than his son knows. He also noted that Morales must have a lot of good friends in America, considering they are willing to lie for him, revealing that he knew that Morales was not usually a part of their investigations. At Eduardo's request, the detectives kept this knowledge from Morales. Due to the deception, Morales took a more active role in the case than he usually did, including interrogating the suspects and proving that they were lying about the murder being an accident. In , Doctor Morales helps to solve the case by acting as a second opinion to Doctor Alan Redmond, the true culprit, in interrogation. Doctor Morales is able to help disprove Redmond's claims regarding Ryan Rojas and Miguel Diaz and takes pleasure in helping to put Redmond in prison for his crimes. In , Doctor Morales is called directly to the crime scene of two of Stroh's victims and he gives his preliminary results on the spot. Though the situation is unusual, Morales acknowledges the necessity of it while looking at a message Stroh left on the wall stating that "Rusty is next." Doctor Morales attends Julio's promotion ceremony and is listed by Provenza as one of the team that will continue making Major Crimes great at catching bad guys for years to come. Personality Morales is sarcastic, blunt and has a sense of humor, even over dead bodies. But he is also sensitive and clearly shows pain for victims, especially the younger ones. He is openly gay and sometimes serves as a resource on the gay community. He is good at his job, but little else is known about his background. His first name is rarely given in the show. In , its shown that due to his going in a different direction than his family of police officers, he's desperate to make his father proud to the point of lying to him about his role. However, during his time in the investigation, Morales proves to be a competent if nervous detective whose keen observational skills help solve the case. Morales' father later states privately that his son was always different than the rest of his family, but does not see it as a bad thing. During his interactions with his father, Morales' eagerness to please the man leaves him blind to the fact that his father clearly understands more than he lets on and to underestimate his father's skills of observation, despite Eduardo being a former police detective himself. During cases involving children, Morales is shown to get as emotionally involved as any of the detectives. After two little children are murdered in , Morales has a hard time giving the autopsy results due to the emotions it brings out and notes that the only good thing is that they didn't suffer. He also can't bring himself to explain how he knows the time of death, stopping himself partway because of how hard it is for him. In , after Morales autopsies nine-year old Eric Lynch, Brenda finds him outside of the men's restroom in a clearly distraught state over having to autopsy the young boy. Morales asks to give his results in the hallway instead of the morgue, sinking to the floor as he explains how the boy died. He also warns Brenda against going into the room where he hasn't yet put the body back together. Category:Characters Category:The Closer Category:Major Crimes Category:Department of the Coroner Category:LGBT Characters